


What They Don't Know

by SonnyD



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Black!Reader - Freeform, F/M, Female Character of Color, Mutant Reader, Prompt Fic, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 08:03:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14911538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonnyD/pseuds/SonnyD
Summary: Writing Prompt: You were once the most powerful villain. You retired early and are engaged to a minor super hero who isn't aware of your past. They are about to be killed right before your eyes...but you step in.





	What They Don't Know

**Author's Note:**

> Hi people! I should be focusing on my other stories right now but I saw the prompt and something just clicked. Anyway, I took some liberties with the prompt. For one, Steve isn't exactly a minor super hero, far from it actually, but he was what came to mind. He's my favourite. Also, the ending might seem a bit rushed or possibly cliche. I don't know. You'll just have to have a look for yourself. Hope you enjoy!

“And I think to myself, what a wonderful world…”

My hips swung from side to side as I sang merrily. The stares from those around me left me unbothered, their petrified gazes doing nothing to trouble me from my ecstatic state. I juggled the shining jewel in my hand, my footsteps silent as I made my way across the large showroom.

“What are you going to do to us?”

The trembling voice caught my attention and I turned to see the source. A young man rose to his knees, staring at me head on but his wobbling lip betrayed his bravery. Or stupidity. I hadn’t decided yet. Despite his courageous attempt, I couldn’t help but find the situation amusing. My sharp bark of laughter made him jump, the others surrounding him appearing just as frazzled by my action.

“What’s so funny?” the man asked. The woman beside him snapped her head towards him, her expression warning not to go any further.

I smiled, “What’s so funny? What’s funny is that your assumptions are way off base, my friend.”

Suddenly, the sound of sirens from outside filled my head, the police finally arriving to do their job. I ignored them, walking closer to the group of hostages huddled in the middle of the room. Their fear of me was clear on each of their faces as they shuffled closer together. I bent down to their level, staring straight into the face of the man who had spoken up before. He flinched when I flashed him a secretive smile, paying no mind to the shouts of the officers outside.

“Do you want to know why?” I asked with a low voice and the man frowned, looking confused. “Do you want to know why your assumptions are incorrect? They’re incorrect because I’m not going to do anything to you.”

I stood up and began to back away from the group. Their confusion at my statement was evident. I could almost hear their unasked questions. Why would she do this? Why isn’t she torturing us? Was this really her plan all along? I resisted the urge to laugh. It was simply too amusing.

“Besides,” I continued, their gazes all falling on me at once, “I already have what I came for.”

Just as I held up the jewel in my hand, a crash sounded from the front of the room. It was to no one’s surprise when none other than the Avengers entered the room. I sighed, lowering my hand as they rushed in to save the day.

“Put down the diamond, Centurion,” Captain America demanded. His famous shield poised in his hand, ready to be thrown at a moment’s notice. I smirked at him.

“Oh Captain, we both know that isn’t going to happen.”

Before any of them could react, I raised my hand in the air and the room suddenly dimmed. It was quickly getting too dark for them to see anything. I concentrated and focused all of my energy into my core. Soon I was invisible to even myself in the already darkened room. The panicked calls of the hostages and a few of the Avengers, in an attempt to get a light source, followed me as I made my escape. I left through the emergency exit and nearly brushed past the bickering pair of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier who must have been waiting for an ambush. I didn’t spare a single glance back at the building as I melted into the shadows.

It was only a few days later that a news report aired about the Silver Centurion being missing. Her last appearance, according to the news anchor, was at the Leonard Henley Annual Charity Auction. She had held the attendees hostage in the main showroom for almost forty minutes until the Avengers, along with backup, had arrived. Unfortunately, Centurion managed to escape but not emptyhanded. She had apparently taken one of the most prized (and expensive) possessions of the Henley family; The Sayden Diamond. Rumoured to be worth over 1.7 billion dollars, the stolen jewel had been in the Henley family for twenty generations, having been a gift to them from royal family of Denmark. The Avengers were unaware of her current whereabouts but were working on finding her location.

I watched from the safety of my couch as the news anchor began to prattle on about another topic. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Little did they know that the theft had all been for publicity and would be returned to the Henley family after everything calmed down. It was also supposed to be the last stunt I would ever pull off as the Silver Centurion, America’s infamous super villain. I sighed and took another sip of my cooling tea before I changed the channel. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

**5 Years Later**

“Remember to call Sam later. He was asking about something that you said you wanted,” I said, slipping on my boots, “I’ll meet you for lunch at that café we talked about, alright?”

“Alright,” came the amused reply. I shook my head and stood up, making my way towards the door. I checked to make sure that I had everything I needed in my bag. When I was satisfied that I did, I began to turn the knob.

“Wait, you forgot something,” I heard from behind me. I turned around, confused.

“I did? What?”

“This.”

I wasn’t prepared for my fiancé to swoop down and press his lips against mine. A surprised moan escaped me, my arms wrapping themselves around his neck while he retained a firm grip on my waist. Despite my lips liking the sweet kiss, my lungs eventually came to disagree with the long minute that it lasted for. We reluctantly pulled away, giving each other short pecks as our foreheads rested against each other.

“I love you,” Steve murmured. His gorgeous eyes gazed down at me, never once straying from my own. I had never known how much I had loved the colour blue until I got my first real look at them.

I smiled, “I love you too.”

We exchanged one last kiss before pulling apart completely, allowing me to leave the apartment. It wasn’t long before my car arrived on a familiar street, a few blocks away from where I was actually headed. Just before I stepped outside, I paused to put on my sunglasses. It was more for protection from the general public rather than the sun’s harsh glare. Being engaged to an Avenger wasn’t easy by any means. Steve had originally wanted to keep the news private and I had agreed but Tony couldn’t keep his big mouth shut. During a press conference, he had let it slip that Captain America had finally popped the question to his girlfriend. We couldn’t leave our apartment for days afterwards. Tony had hired a well-known wedding planner as compensation which was where I was going.

I ambled down the street, taking my time to enjoy the summer heat before it got to be too much. I was glad when I caught sight of the planner’s office. I nearly sighed with relief as cool air hit my exposed skin, pushing my sunglasses to the top of my head.

“Oh, there you are! I was wondering when you’d get here.”

I smiled, letting Joan wrap me in a hug. For one of the most popular wedding planners in the business, she wasn’t as pretentious as I had expected her to be. She was quite easy going and relaxed. I could see why she was so sought after. In fact, Pepper and Tony had contracted her for their own wedding.

“Sorry,” I apologised, “I ran into some traffic. You know how it is.”

“Girl, I gotchu. Living in New York can be a pain sometimes.”

She shook her head, her afro bouncing with each movement. She led me to her office and offered me a beverage of my choice, which I accepted, before we got into the details. She had asked me to come in to clear up a bit of confusion on her end with the floral arrangement and also the centrepieces for the reception. It didn’t take long for us to work through the problem and even start on other categories for the wedding. I eventually left after agreeing on a date for the cake tasting.

I checked the time on my phone when I made it back to my car. Lunch with Steve wouldn’t happen for another two hours so I had some time to run some other errands since I was already out and about. The first thing I did was stop by a bakery to pick up some cupcakes. Movie night was on Saturday and I had no doubt that Tony would eat all the available cupcakes he could get his hands on in the short period of time between now and then. He had a penchant for doing this and then giving F.R.I.D.A.Y some last minute order as if it was going to salvage anything. There had been more than one occasion where the team had almost straight up killed him because of it. I honestly had no idea how Pepper put up with that man. Infuriating was what he was.

My trip to the bakery took half an hour which wasn’t as long as I had expected with the long line of customers in the store front. They worked fast, however, and I got through in no time. I then went for some window shopping turned actual shopping. One look at the price of a shirt and I was gone. I even bought something for Steve so that he would be less exasperated at my spending. Eventually, the time came to meet him for lunch. I had been fairly happy all morning so far but the small smile on my face left as soon as I realized that something was wrong. People were running haphazardly down the sidewalks and some in the street, headed for the direction in which I was coming from. On a normal day, I would have turned myself around and followed but I knew that this situation could only mean one thing. Some villain was out terrorizing the citizens and wreaking havoc in New York once again.

A sigh left my lips as I parked my car off to the side. I knew that Steve would be there. I was running a few minutes late and he was always punctual. I had no doubt that my dumbass of a fiancé would be out there trying to save the day with his hero complex, despite the lack of his shield. I couldn’t just let him put himself in danger like that with no backup. The other Avengers were most likely unaware of the situation as yet and there was no telling just how powerful this villain was. Besides, I wasn’t exactly defenceless. Before I could second guess myself, I left the safety of my car.

Upon turning the corner, I was met with the sight of Steve facing off against Tellus, a more recent villain with powers of terrakinesis. I crept closer to them, hoping to hear their conversation. I did my best to stay out of sight by ducking behind a dust coated car.

“You need to back down, Tellus,” Steve was saying.

“Back down? Now why would I do that?” the other man snarled.

“I don’t think you understood me. I wasn’t asking you, I was telling you.”

“Why so angry, Captain? Did I catch you at a bad time?”

He most certainly did. I couldn’t keep a scowl off of my face at the sound of his taunting voice.

“You did, actually,” Steve replied, his tone serious.

“Shame. I can’t do anything to fix that. However, I can prevent you from having another inconvenience.”

Before Steve could even get the chance to respond, Tellus decided to put an end to the conversation. I peeked around the hood of the car only to see the said villain flick his wrist in an upward motion as if he were shooing away a pesky fly. Immediately, the ground beneath Steve’s feet trembled and he was flung backwards into a store window as the road lifted itself from its holding. I gasped at the horrible sight of my fiancé being tossed aside as if he were some sort of ragdoll.

“I guess I really did catch you at a bad time. You don’t even seem to have the energy to get up. Pathetic.”

I saw red. I found myself jumping out from behind the car I had hidden behind and storming straight towards Tellus.

“The only thing you’re gonna be catching is these hands if you don’t get the hell away from my man!”

Tellus whipped around and stared at me in bewilderment. His expression soon morphed into one of amusement, however.

“Oh really? And what exactly are you going to do about it?”

“You best believe a lot more than you think. Now, why don’t you step down from your high chair, little boy and run back to your sad excuse of a lair?”

He frowned, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t think I did. Who are you calling a boy?”

“And who the hell else would I be talking to?”

Tellus’ eyebrows furrowed, his eyes beginning to glow white.

“I do believe that I’m the one with powers here and you’re sadly mistaken if you think that I would let myself be bested by a regular human with no understanding of mutant powers.”

I couldn’t keep a smirk off of my face, even as I saw Steve stumbling out of the broken window which he had crashed into a moment ago. I could see his shock from my sudden appearance out of the corner of my eye and I knew that he wanted nothing more than to get me uninvolved in the situation. However, I had to ignore him in favour of finishing what he started.

“Oh please,” I scoffed, “I know a whole lot more than you do about powers and even more about villainy.”

I raised my hand, letting my dormant powers awaken as the sun’s rays seeped into my skin. Tellus didn’t know what hit him; that is until he was crouched on the cracked surface of the desolate road, clutching his face in an effort to block out the blinding light shining in his face. He began to scream as the harsh glare started to burn. I only stopped until I was satisfied. Watching him stumble around in his temporary blindness afterwards ignited a spark in my core which I had long since forgotten and had worked hard to extinguish.

The shocked stuttering of my name brought my attention back to Steve. I rushed over to him, grasping his arms as my eyes flickered over his face in a search for any damage that may have been done. There were a few small cuts and scrapes from the shattered glass he had crashed through but otherwise, he was fine.

“Steve, baby, are you okay?” I asked, concern threaded into my words. He took longer than I would have liked to answer me. I knew it was because of my hair and eyes which turned silver when I used my powers. He gazed down at me strangely, looking as though he was seeing me for the first time. I hated it.

“I’m fine…I just,” he paused, his eyebrows furrowing, “Centurion?”

* * *

 

It had been about an hour since the incident and I was sitting in the main conference room of the Tower with the Avengers as they discussed the events which had taken place. Steve stood to the far right of my seat, staring blankly at the wall opposite us. I knew that this was just his detachment technique. I wouldn’t be able to get him out of his trance unless he was willing to come out.

“So, just run through that with us one more time.” Tony’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up at him where he sat on the other side of the table. His expression was curious yet cautious at the same time. The others looked similar from where they either sat or stood around the room.

I sighed, “I used to be the Silver Centurion-”

“Yeah, I kinda got that with the whole silver hair and eyes thing earlier but I just want to know about the part where you decided that you would lie to us.”

My lips pursed when he cut me off but I said nothing for a long moment in order to collect my thoughts.

“After I retired, I went on to live a normal civilian life and it was nice for a while but then…but then I bumped into Steve. I’ll admit that I wanted nothing to do with him or you guys at first. My only wish at the time was to avoid you all,” I paused. “But he was persistent and I found myself liking you guys. You all accepted me into your family and I appreciated that. I chose not to tell you because I wanted to leave that life behind me, especially after I fell in love with my new one.”

“But why retire from villainy? I mean, you must have been living the life, right?” Natasha asked, her eyebrow raised.

I frowned, “Not really. It was fun at first. I loved the thrill of it. Then I began to get tired. Tired of people fearing me, tired of having little to no friends, tired of being a person who someone would never trust. I didn’t want to lie to you. It wasn’t my intention.”

The group was silent for a few minutes, seemingly thinking things over. I kept my gaze on the table as they each had their own inner turmoil. I was beginning to get impatient when suddenly, the sound of someone standing up abruptly echoed in the room. I lifted my head to see Tony staring back at me, his arms crossed over chest.

“I’m going to need a list of all your powers.”

“Um, light absorption and manipulation and I also have invisibility. Why?”

“I need to know so I can make your suit according to your specifications.”

“My suit? What are you…?” The question trailed off as I came to a realization in my head. Tony smiled.

“Welcome to the Avengers. Now, who’s hungry? I think we still have same cupcakes.”

Sam snorted, “Fat chance, Stark.”

My lips curved into a smile. I couldn’t believe it. Not only did I gain back their trust but I also managed to get a new use for powers. A use that would do them good. I watched as they all left one by one after flashing me a smile. Soon, Steve and I were the only ones in the room. The said man hadn’t moved from his place against the wall but he was now looking at me. I slowly stood up from my seat and approached him.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” he asked softly. I sighed and crossed my arms.

“I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t exactly on my list of things to do. However, I knew that I couldn’t get married to you if you didn’t at least know about that aspect of my life. I would have ended up telling you out of guilt anyway.”

Steve ran a hand through his hair, “I just…I don’t know. I mean, you kept a huge part of your life away from me for so long. A part of your identity.”

“I’m not that person anymore, Steve,” I reminded him, shaking my head. “I did my best to get rid of her. If I’m going to use my powers ever again, then it’s going to have to be for the greater good. As simple as that.”

I paused, biting my lip in thought.

“What is it?”

“Do you still want to marry me?” I asked abruptly. Steve blinked, clearly surprised. He reached out and pulled me closer by my waist, giving me a determined look.

“What kind of question is that? Of course, I still want to marry you. I love you and nothing is ever going to change that. I promise that we will work this through. Okay, doll?”

I smiled at the name. Trust Steve to still say the sweetest things when our relationship hit a block. I planted a kiss on his jaw before hugging him back.

“I love you too.”


End file.
